She couldn't help but snort. "Oh, so now I'm her favourite?"
The husband and wife quietly held each other for a little longer before separating and saying their temporary goodbyes, by soft, hushed words and feather light kisses to the cheek.
As the young woman left her home, she couldn't help but feel her heart tighten suddenly.
"I must already miss them."She thought.
***
The young woman was strolling through a sand covered street that had been filled with bustling villagers who seemed to always be in a hurry. Most women had been getting their laundry done early and the others doing some gardening before they could go inside their homes and lock up. It had made sense why her husband had been called for today's night watch, she thought. Seeing as the news had spread all over the village and for once people were not pointing and staring at her. They were all minding their own business and trying to get their choresand work done as soon as possible before dawn. She held her daughter's custard filled tart in her hand, wrapping it around a cloth and carefully tucking it into a small pouch she carried. She smiled, thinking of how her little Dove was going to react when she surprised her with the tart. She trekked her way out of the village and hiked deep into the woods to check the traps she had lain the day before, pushing away branches as she searched. The young woman couldn't help but shiver as she felt a sudden and harsh gust of wind push against her, causing goosebumps to fill her skin. Clenching her teeth tight to keep herself from chattering, she finally found the traps. Kneeling down, she let out a sigh of disappointment as she saw the traps empty with the bait still untouched. The chill wind began to howl louder, moving her hair in front of her face, making it blow into the wind. She let out an irritated breath, standing up and hurriedly detached the bow and arrow from her shoulder. Exhaling softly and closing her eyes, she tried to listen and locate where an animal may be, perhaps a doe, a rabbit or even a big bird. She concentrated for what seemed like a long time, but the weather was not on her side today.
Not at all.She thought.
Once again, she tried and closed her eyes to listen for anything. From young she had been trained how to hunt and had been very exceptional at it, she had planned to teach her little Dove the same. The young woman knew she was different compared to the other women in her village. Her glowing blue and green eyes were not the only thing that made her so different. Her sharp long nails dug into the arrow she had slung on her bow. The young woman sniffed her surroundings. She had a heightened sense of smell and one of the best hearing that could outmatch any predator.
Once again the wind pushed against her. Repeatedly. Again. And Again.
Something wasn't right.
The wind's torment brought dark clouds to the sky. The force of it so strong, that it slammed the young woman up against a tree. She gasped in surprise, her eyes immediately widening. The wind howled in agony. It screamed and screeched. The sound was deafening. She hadn't realised that she had begun running until she felt the scrapes of pine needle branches and her legs aching from exertion. She kept running towards where she could see the familiar smoke from the cabin that had been lit in the fireplace. Her heart pounded and her laboured breaths were from panic and not from the running anymore.
The young woman, wife and mother made it to a clearing.
Her home.
She looked at the tree stump that still had logs kept in its place. The clothing line that was held up between two trees had the pelts of rabbit fur. Meaning that her husband and her little Dove had already skinned them.
Everything was so quiet, the silence made her vision spin. She walked towards the skinned rabbit pelts and touched it softly. Its fur still slightly damp and yet incredibly soft. It was only then when she inhaled more air to calm her anxious breaths, that she caught the scent of blood. It was so distinct that she could tell it was human. The woman carefully treaded towards the scent. There, coating green leaves, turning them black was spilled blood. The body would have been difficult to recognize if she hadn't seen the axe next to it. It was as if time froze, her heart stopped and so did her lungs, and her brain and her whole body. A choked sob made its way to her throat. In a bloodied mess, with dismembered limbs laid her husband's body.
The young woman was a wife.
Almost as if her brain were to work again, she held her nausea in as she sprinted for the cabin. Slipping on the thick tree rootsshe ignored, she saw movement in the cabin and almost made a sigh of relief.
"Her Dove, her baby Dove. Her precious Dove. Her sweet Dove. Her fragile Dove. Her salvation. Her reason to shine so bright. Her Dove, her baby Dove."She chanted over and over, nearly going insane. The young woman snatched the door open immediately. Yellow was the first colour she'd seen when walking in. A yellow cloak hung over the door handle, draped along the floor.
The young woman was so distraught from seeing her husband's body, so mangled. That this whole situation was not making sense to her. She heard footsteps coming from behind the door.
No!
The woman wouldn't believe it.
Not yet.
She raced for the door and opened it only to see a tall figure, with blood stained hands. She couldn't look at what had been on the bed. She refused as the figure turned his eyes to her in surprise. And just like that, something inside her snapped.
The young womanwasa mother.
A thorn-sharp scream erupted from her lungs. A scream she could keep in no more as she charged toward the stunned figure and jumped on top of him, making him stumble back and trip. Falling to the floor loudly. Scraping her long sharp nails down his face. She felt hatred, disbelief and agony, along with other grotesque feelings. The man groaned and tried to pin his weight on top of her.
"You bitch—" the man groaned, feeling the skin on his face bleed. He tried to slam the young woman's head against the brown wooden floors. She struggled beneath him and reached for anything she could grasp. To her shock she could find nothing as the man sat firmly on top of her and wrapped hisblood soaked hands around her throat to strangle her. She furiously clawed onto his hands and tried kicking underneath him until she heard a soft thud. It was a blade that fell from his pocket. In a swift stretch for the blade, she grabbed it and slashed his face with it. With a yell from the man, she pounced on him once again and hit the man's head against the wall, knocking the man unconscious.
The young woman whimpered, crawling toward the bed. Panting and biting her lips from agonising fear. Her little Dove looked broken, so out of place. Her perfect little body was hurt. And her once warm eyes had been glossed over. There was no life.Her body was still bleeding when the young woman grasped her little broken Dove gently but desperately in her arms and sobbed hysterically. Even with the young woman's blurry vision she looked at her Dove's body and brought a blanket over it. The young woman shakily touched her Dove's ribs. The spot where she had just tickled this morning and the little Dove had been squealing in laughter. So full of life.
Her nose leaked and the tears kept falling as she kept whispering. "Please come back to me, please let me shine so bright for you. Be my little Dove again. Come on, come back to me, baby Dove. Please come to Mama. I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I'm sorry I left you. Mama is here.PLEASE!" the young woman desperately pleaded. She held her Dove's body and rocked back and forth.
She was a wife and a mother.
She was nothing now without them.
